About a year ago, my wife and I had a spirited discussion about the boundaries of soup season. To boil things down, I think outdoor temperature, not the calendar, should determine when soup fits on the menu.
Of course, we had soup the other day when the weather during the day made me think about breaking out my shorts so I have obviously lost this whole battle.
But the topic of soup has gotten me in hot water in another area of my life. My feelings on the topic may have cost me a few friends.
One of my favorite web sites has decided to use this time of year to have a Souper Bowl. Visitors can vote on head-to-head matchups of different styles of soup to determine the one and true champion.
Now my friends and I pretty much agree that clam chowder should have a pretty easy path to the title. We just have one significant disagreement which may alter our interactions going forward.
One of the earlier matchups provided a showdown between lobster bisque and tomato. I bristled when I saw the seeding – tomato was seeded sixth in its region.
With four regions, that meant tomato soup was between 21st and 24th in the overall estimation of the guys creating the tournament. I couldn’t fathom that. Of course, my friends reacted just as strongly when I picked tomato over lobster bisque.
One of the big problems comes from my issues with lobster. I’m not saying lobster is bad or that I don’t like it. I just have a pre-existing relationship with other shellfish that keeps me from truly appreciating lobster.
I grew up in Baltimore. When we had seafood, we had crab and shrimp. You replace lobster bisque with cream of crab in this matchup, and I won’t say a word about tomato soup. But I have never had lobster bisque so I can’t say it has anything over tomato soup.
This might sound terrible to some people, but it’s just how I grew up. Soup didn’t play a huge role in my eating experience as a kid, unless you count canned chicken noodle or those Chunky “soups.”
In fact, as I defend tomato soup, I feel bad mentioning that I didn’t ever really eat this kind of coup probably until I found the beauty of grilled cheese and tomato soup in college. I have a complicated relationship with tomatoes and tomato byproducts so I needed some peer pressure to open my mind.
The fact that tomato soup relies greatly on grilled cheese played a huge role in the argument my friends gave me, but I see that as a positive, not a negative. Sure, it doesn’t stand strongly on its own, but representing half of an iconic comfort food has to count for something.
I’m sure I would love lobster bisque, but I don’t know if I can turn my back on tomato. I guess the only way I can solve all of this is by finding a good bowl of lobster bisque somewhere. I just need the weather to cooperate one of these days.
Sweetwater Tavern (various places in Va) or the old Phillips (does it exist at all any more?) have a good lobster bisque – I have heard The Chart House does too, but I only ever order their fantastic NE Clam Chowder 🙂